Dodece said:
The reality is pretty harsh. Nintendo has just been throwing the hardcore gamer a few bones for the past couple generations. That was part of their problem. Now they are in a different position however thanks to bringing new and defunct players to the market. To maintain growth eventually they are going to need to ensure more complex hardcore games on their platform, or watch as the well dries up. They made a good start earlier this year buying a controlling stake in Monolith. They need to buy a couple more studios or expand their in house development.
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That's sort of how I feel. Capcom did it with RE4, Ninty has Geist, Eternal Darkness, Fire Emblem, Metroid, Wind Waker, Starfox Adventures (not really sure with this - its a bit of both).
Im not sure how many of those games Ninty would be satisified with the sales of. Eternal Darkness definitely didn't go well enough - even though it was a great game - and that is exactly why Silicon Knights was let go. Ninty no longer saw the merit in making games like that - risky, large, expensive. They threw gamers a bone, and it was left more than half-unchewed.
This is also exactly why RARE was let go. What did they say - that Rare was contributing less than 2-3% of the total revenue of the company, and had become irrelevant? Nintendo are still in the industry because they have the balls to make these financial decisions. "Screw hardcore gamers - we spend heaps of money making games for them, and they don't get bought - why should we support them?"
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Ninty ONLY need to produce a couple of excellent "hardcore" titles to keep the majority of hardcore gamers interested. Pretty much every one of my hardcore friends will play Metroid - therefore they will end up with a Wii. At least for a while.
That said, I honestly believe that the hardcore gaming pool is currently... maybe 20% of the total gaming pool? - and shrinking dramatically. In 5 years it may 10%, and in 20 years it may be 5% or less.
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Nintendo don't CARE if the well dries up. That is my point. They CAN create hardcore games - whenever/however they want. They know this. If the market reappears, they can jump in - or buy some external company - whenever they want.
Look at ALL the games that have been ULTRA-successful over the lasy few years:
- Guitar Hero (ultra-casual)
- Buzz
- Singstar
- Gran Turismo (IMO this is also an ultra-casual title - aimed at revheads, not gamers). My "ultra" revhead mate Linday plays this, and never plays any other games
- Mario Party
- Brain Training
- Nintendogs
- Animal Crossing (etc... most of those DS games)
Anyway - I'm not here to argue this point. I'm trying to argue that Nintendo will have a big hand in determining the future direction of the industry, and that MP3 may be one of the last "throw the dog a bone" games from them for a while (in a way, I don't think Galaxy or Brawl are really "hardcore" titles - they may have hardcore appeal, but they are games that Ninty will argue anyone can play. Then again maybe Metroid has moved in the same direction already??, which is part of the reasoning behind the 8.5 from GameSpot).
If we care at all about hardcore titles such as Metroid & Zelda - we should encourage sales and good reviews - not discourage them. If we do, we may feel the effects for years (or decades) to come.
(thought in my head - is Halo a "casual" game (primarily for the male demographic) - or is it still classed as a "hardcore" title? I'm not sure to be honest - probably the latter).
